This really was the end. It was the last day of shooting on
the New Orleans set of the cataclysm comedy "This is the
End," the joint directoral debut of actor Seth Rogen and
longtime writing partner Evan Goldberg. And, brother, did the set look the
part.

A once-luxe sectional sofa -- ringing a sunken living room
built on a Harahan warehouse-cum-soundstage designed by frequent Rogen collaborator New Orleanian Chris Spellman to represent "fake
James Franco's house" -- showed unmistakable signs of recent immolation. A few
steps away, on a nearby basement set -- stuffed with labeled box after labeled
box of fake Franco memorabilia -- the ceiling had been torn away during another
bit of on-camera destruction.

Set piece after set piece, in fact -- the fake Franco
library, the fake Franco bathroom -- wore the scars of a destructive movie shoot.
All of that destruction, however, is key to "This Is the End," opening
Wednesday (June 12). In it, Rogen and five of his real-life pals -- Franco, Jonah Hill, Craig Robinson,
Danny McBride
and Jay Baruchel
-- play (mostly) fictional versions of themselves, riding out a
fire-and-brimstone-filled cataclysmic event unfolding outside, and the cabin
fever that comes with it.

As tattered as the set was, however, Rogen and Goldberg
looked none the worse for wear. They looked happy. A little relieved, perhaps.
Maybe even a touch giddy.

"It went great. The fact that we're filming what we're
supposed to be filming today is a good sign," Rogen said, seconds before
deploying that trademark staccato laugh -- part tension-reliever and part
nervous tic, and which sounds like a cross between Woody Woodpecker and a Studebaker.
"We're not behind. It went really great, actually. It kind of couldn't have
gone better. When I look back, I don't --"

Goldberg interrupted, something the old friends do with
regularity, whether cutting the other off or finishing his sentence. "Every
movie we've done has had a hiccup of some kind. Not this one," Goldberg said. "We've
never had a movie where a studio came and left early."

Granted, the studio in question is Columbia Pictures, which
has been behind such Rogen-Goldberg-penned films as "Superbad," "Pineapple Express"
and "The
Green Hornet" -- so there was a certain trust there. "If anyone thinks
we're competent, it's them," Rogen said, again laughing. "Not everyone thinks
we are, but these people do."

Still, it's a big moment for Rogen and Goldberg. They did
it. They had officially become directors. They don't act like big shots,
though. In fact, it's hard to imagine them being more down-to-Earth and
likeable.

Sitting on the un-charred half of fake James Franco's couch,
they talked about the unexpected challenges of directing, about the benefits of
working with a cast made up of some of their best friends -- and about finding
time during a busy movie shoot for their, ahem, morning constitutional. Here's
what they had to say:

Seth Rogen poses for a photo with a fan at the Los Angeles premiere of Rogen's New Orleans-shot comedy 'This Is the End' on June 3, 2013.Columbia Pictures

Did it take much to
convince the folks at Columbia to let you guys direct?Goldberg: Oh, no.Rogen: No, it
just took us hitting the number they were willing to pay for it. (Laughs.) But that's honestly the first
thing a studio's thing is -- "Can we make this for a price?" -- more than
anything.Goldberg: If we
came and said, "We want to make an end-of-the-world movie for $80 million --"Rogen: Exactly. They
would have never let us do it. But when it's one like this, we got it in the
world where they were comfortable (and) we got enough to where we could do
whatever we wanted. And that's kind of like the magical place you can hit: You're
low enough where they won't bother you, you're high enough where you can
achieve what you want to achieve, build the stuff you want to build -- but
you're not their biggest problem, is basically what we always try to avoid
being.

What made you decide
to make the jump from writing to directing? It seems there's a whole lot more
responsibility, so a whole lot more pressure.Rogen: I mean,
there really isn't.Goldberg: I
really think that as a producer, there's more pressure than as a director.Rogen: Yeah,
we've been producers, and actually there is more pressure being a producer than
a director.Goldberg: Once
you're in the director's club, you can make a crappy movie and still get a
second chance, a third chance, because there's just not a ton of directors. But
producers? Dime a dozen. You screw up, you're done.Rogen: And you're
actually more accountable for things, just on the sheer responsibility. ... As
producers we have to make sure like the movie comes in under budget and
finishes on time and everything. As a director you kind of let other people
deal with that. (But on this movie) we are also the producers, so we can't
screw ourselves over too badly.Goldberg: There's
a lot of us denying us things.Rogen: But having
written so many of our movies it just seemed like we ought to execute one.Goldberg: It
seemed unfair to any director. ... We get in there way too much.Rogen: We have so
many opinions how it should be.

Clockwise from top left, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride, James Franco, Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill and Craig Robison, in a scene from the New Orleans set of the cataclysm comedy 'This Is the End,' written and directed by Rogen and longtime creative partner Evan Goldberg.Suzanne Hanover / Columbia Pictures

You're kind of
directing it anyway?Rogen: We're not
directing it, but we're kind of imposing our directing opinions on whoever is
directing it.Goldberg: Which is
unfair.Rogen: Yeah, as a
director, I would hate that. (Laughs.)

So have there been any
surprises?Goldberg: The one
thing I didn't realize was you have like 200 percent less time to go number
two.Rogen: (Laughs.) That's a big deal!Goldberg: It's
like you only have two chances in a workday, and a workday is 12 hours -- so
you have to make sure you pull it off.Rogen: It is
hard.

So you like cut down
on your coffee intake? Stuff like that?Goldberg: Oh,
yeah, no fiber. I haven't had fiber in months.

Is that what you have
planned for tomorrow?Rogen: Yeah, the
most leisurely crap of your entire life. I'm surprised that (the entire shoot)
went so smoothly, honestly. I'm surprised by how well prepared we were for it,
in a way.Goldberg: What
I'm surprised by is, which connects to what you're saying, is, I didn't realize
how differently we had been operating than others. Because we're producers, we
like plan -- were always worried the director's going to get to the set and (expletive)
it all up, so we're like, well, we'd
better not get to set and (expletive) it all up. So we over-prepared like you wouldn't
believe.Rogen: Exactly.

And that's why it went
so smoothly?Rogen: I think so.
It's helpful.

So tell me about the
tone of the movie. Obviously, it's a comedy, and your movies always have some
heart in them, you always get some comedy from goofiness, you get comedy from the
shock of unexpected carnage. Is all of that here? Is this different from what
we've seen from you guys?Rogen: It's kind of hopefully brought to a new level, but it also has all those things
that you just said. We wanted to focus more on a larger group, which is
something we've never done before. Most of our movies are about like two guys,
and at its core this one has two guys, but we wanted to kind of explore a group
of friends. So there's six main guys, which is a little different from what
we've done.Goldberg: Yeah,
we talked about "The Big Chill": Let's do that, and have a whole bunch of
different dynamics.Rogen: This guy
likes this guy, and this guy hates this guy, and this guy and this guy have a
secret that they're sharing.Goldberg: And one
guy does one thing that affects the next guy.Rogen: Exactly.
That's something we were really interested in doing. And at the same time I
think we grew up just loving the movies so much of Sam Raimi and Peter Jackson,
these gruesome horror comedies. That was something we wanted to try also, to
add kind of a scary element to the movie and really take some of our favorite elements
from our favorite horror movies and try to incorporate them into the type of
tone we normally do. "Tremors" is one of my favorite movies ever, and we always
talk about how scariness and comedy can really go well together.Goldberg: Because
it's always about the build-up and suspense, and release.Rogen: Its' all
like the setup and the payoff.

Writer-directors Seth Rogen, left, and Evan Goldberg discuss a scene on the New Orleans set of the cataclysm comedy 'This Is the End,' written and directed by Rogen and longtime creative partner Goldberg.

Except you're
screaming instead of laughing.Rogen: Exactly!
Or doing both at the same time!Goldberg: Yeah,
we don't have a name for it yet, but there's reaction people do when they can't
believe it and it's funny, but they can't get to laughter. It's like, "Ohaagh!"Rogen: That's
what this movie has a lot of. Kind of screaming -- screaming laughter, I hope.

So the plot details
that I've read haven't been anything more than the short film on which it's
based ("Jay and Seth Versus the Apocalypse"). Is it anything more than that?Rogen: We're
experimenting with keeping the plot slightly under wraps.Goldberg: We
generally wear it on our arm and tell everybody everything. We don't care if
people will read the script or anything. But this time --Rogen: Well, it's
interesting because it kind of happened organically. I mean, I don't read like
a ton of press about our movies, because they're generally so negative toward
me. But sometimes I do, and what people seem to be having fun with is the idea
of hypothesizing exactly what happens in the movie. What kind of apocalypse is
it? Is it zombies? Is it this? Is it that? Who survives? Who doesn't survive? So
it just seems like we shouldn't ruin the fun in a way, because I think that is
part of the fun of the movie: figuring out exactly what type of end-of-the-world
scenario it is and learning specifically who makes it and who doesn't,
basically.Goldberg: And the
other context of the film is, there are parts where they are unsure as to what
is exactly going on, and that was fun to horse around with.Rogen: Exactly.

So everybody in the
movie basically plays version of themselves, am I right? Or the six main guys,
anyway?Rogen: No, everybody. Everybody who you would
recognize plays a version of that recognizable person.Goldberg: With
one or two exceptions. We took a few people and made them absolutely --Rogen: But they
still are them. Michael Cera is Michael Cera. He doesn't act anything like Michael Cera, but he plays a guy named Michael
Cera, who has the same resume as Michael Cera.Goldberg: On the
flip side, a lot of people who play themselves have many attributes of their
real personae.Rogen: Yeah, we
kind of went both ways with it. Some people we tore completely away from how
you would expect them to be. And some people kind of play into how you would
expect them to be. And that's kind of the joke.

Emma Watson pauses for a pose on the red carpet at the Los Angeles premiere of the New Orleans-shot comedy 'This Is the End' on June 3, 2013.Columbia Pictures

Does that concept
resonate -- with you, in particular, Seth, as someone who's so recognizable?
Everybody's got an idea of who Seth Rogen is, so you can kind of subvert that a
little bit?Rogen: Yeah, a
little bit. That was something we were kind of entertained by. But also we
talked a lot about how there's a blurry line between reality and fiction in
certain ways -- like with reality TV, (which) is essentially people playing versions
of themselves in engineered situations, basically. That idea kind of became entertaining
to us, this idea that the movie literally takes place in the same world that
the audience lives in. It's the same world, which to us just made it funny and
relatable in a way. I exist in the same world you exist in, in the movie. I'm
not a guy playing me, I'm me. ... That
to us became a really interesting idea, and just the jokes you get from making
fun of yourself and how people expect you to be is also entertaining.

How different is what
you have on film from what you had on paper when you started? Do you take more
liberties when you direct it yourself?Rogen: We
developed a pretty improvisational style early. We have some of the funniest
people on Earth in the movie, so it's crazy to hide them. And most of these
people are -- I think every one of these guys has written or directed a movie
themselves.Goldberg: Like
James Franco has generally directed more than us.Rogen: Jay
(Baruchel) wrote "Goon" with Evan. Danny McBride writes "Eastbound and Down."
Craig Robinson has written for "The Office" and he does standup, so he writes
his own material constantly. Jonah (Hill) helped write "21 Jump Street." All
these guys are talented writers, so to us it just seems crazy to have all these
guys around and not hear what they would say and tell them, "No, say what we
wrote."Goldberg: And
sometimes our writing wins, and sometimes theirs does.Rogen: Yeah, it's
true. Sometimes they can't come up with anything funnier than what we've
written. Sometimes they come up with something a thousand times funnier than
what we've written. And we're always excited for either thing to happen.Goldberg: Maybe
six or seven times in the movie, Franco came to me and said, "I don't mean to
get in your way as a director, maybe I would have done this." And he was right
every time.Rogen: We told
the guys early on -- like we literally told them early on, like in one of the
first rehearsals -- "Several of you in this room have directed more things than
we have. Don't just pitch us jokes. If you have a shot idea, if you have a
different way of covering the scene, just tell us. We might not listen to you,
but just tell us." (Laughs.)

Seth Rogen, left, Jay Baruchel, James Franco and Craig Robinson prepare for the worst in the New Orleans-shot cataclysm comedy 'This Is the End,' written and directed by Rogen and longtime creative partner Evan Goldberg.Columbia Pictures

So as comfortable as
you are with these guys, was it hard to be the boss?Rogen: More like
babysitters than bosses.Goldberg: Like, "Guys,
please ----ing hit your marks."Rogen: It's a lot
wrangling of guys. There's a lot of physically getting them and putting them
where they need to be and just try to get them to stop talking to each other so
they they'd focus. I kept saying, "Settle, settle" -- (that) was my mantra.Goldberg: Like,
generally what you're talking about, like, Franco would be in here, reading a
book alone. Jonah would be in a corner talking on his cell. Craig's watching a
video. Jay's gone outside to have cigarette. Danny's joking around. And you've
got to get them all to come together.Rogen: And then
when you get them all close to each other, they start to talk to each other. It
is like being a babysitter.

Did you find you
didn't have a sense of authority because they know you so well?Goldberg: Very
specifically, the reason why we fought to do this was because no one else would
have been able to wrangle them the same. They have a base respect for us as
writers and producers, and so as directors they carry that with them.Rogen: It's true,
yeah. There's a lot of stuff that -- like, several times a day, I would think, "If
we were not friends with these guys, we would not have gotten them to all do
this." Especially in the amount of time that we got them to do it: four weeks
of shooting.

Yeah, I guess you
could just cut to the chase and say, "Let's do it," whereas somebody else might
be a little more --Rogen: I could
say, "Shut the (expletive) up and stop talking," and they'll listen to me and they
won't get offended because it's something I've said to them a lot.Goldberg: And
seven out of 10 times, they throw out the funniest things ever. Every once in a
while, it's no good and we have to shut them down. And if it wasn't us, I think
they'd have a bit of trouble.Rogen: Yeah, if
it wasn't their friend (shutting them down), they'd probably get mad and
second-guess us more.Goldberg: You can
say, "Trust me," and they will.

Now how do you guys
work together? You've been doing it so long, is there a division of labor?Goldberg: There's
a slight natural division of labor in that he's closer to the actors than me
all the time.Rogen: That's
because I'm in the scene a lot of the time.Goldberg: So like
he's the one who would be like, "Settle, settle, settle."Rogen: I'm
slightly more of the babysitter in those moments.Goldberg: And
just naturally I have to watch the (playback) screens a bit more, but he always
comes and watches the screens after the take.Rogen: It's not
like one of us has a specialty that the other one hasn't. Sometimes,
geographically, each of us has to deal with different things because of where
we physically are.Goldberg: I have
no concern for the actor's comfort. That's something I've been learning about.
Seth's like, "The guys are dying. They've been under that light forever. That
light's really hot."Rogen: But I
think at times I have too much concern
for the actors' well-being, because it's always, as an actor, your instinct to
stop before the director is happy, I think.

So after doing it,
would you want to do it again? Do you want to direct more?Rogen: This is
the most fun job.Goldberg: When we
write a movie, we're on the set usually, like all day long. So why the (expletive)
wouldn't we just be the directors? I've got to wake up at the same time, I've
got to do all the same stuff -- but I get to have a bit more fun.Rogen: It's more
fun to do this. It's more engaging, it's more active throughout the day.Goldberg: And if
it's another director, you might not like the costume people, you might not
like the craft service people. We hired these people.Rogen: We were
able to surround ourselves with exactly who we wanted to surround ourselves
with.Goldberg: People
who aren't offended easily.